Ministerial nuclear council
01 May 2008
France is to create a top-level council on nuclear energy. Consisting of ministers and chaired by the President, it will decide France's nuclear policy.
The council is to set main policy features as well as their implementation in terms of export, international cooperation, industrial policy, energy policy, research, safety, security and environmental protection.
Chaired by the President, the council will include the prime minister as well as cabinet secretaries in charge of energy, foreign affairs, economy, industry, foreign trade, research and finance. The head of the Commisarat a l'Énergie Atomique (CEA, Nuclear Energy Commission), the secretary general of national defence and the military chief of staff will also sit on the council.
The prime minister, François Fillion, was directed to establish the council by a decree from President Nicolas Sarkozy. The move clearly underlines the importance of nuclear technologies to France in terms of economic strength as well as power supply and military capability.
During the oil shocks of the 1970s France made a bold decision to expand its nuclear power program on a massive scale, based on standard designs developed from early Westinghouse models. The resulting technology now famously provides 78% of the country's electricity, with more available to export via all its neighbours: Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
The country's national nuclear champion, Areva, is the largest nuclear company in the world and works hard to export its reactor designs and nuclear fuel services globally.
In terms of the military, France maintains a nuclear weapons capability and nuclear-powered naval vessels, all using domestic technology.
The establishment of the council is the first in a series of moves to come, World Nuclear News understands. Another is to establish an agency to promote nuclear power to so-called 'threshold' countries nearly ready to begin using it.